Etch 'n Sketch Reflections

Well, the second week of inservice has come and gone, and there are only a few more days before the school will be bustling with energy again! Can I say that I am totally ready for students to be in the classroom come Tuesday morning? Yeah, I'm not quite there yet...the change to 5th grade brings a new set of concepts to think about. So, there are still a few more things to check off of the old "to-do" list, and I'm going to make every attempt I can to take care of that tomorrow while hanging out in (what I'm assuming will be) a pretty quiet school. Inservice this week brought a variety of activities. Tuesday brought the entire staff back together for a nice breakfast and back-to-school welcome messages. We then went into some breakout sessions dealing with school safety, CPR training, and an especially nice mindfulness session (that was a nice way to finish the breakout sessions). Then we had the rest of the day to take care of business back in our classrooms. ...

Well, after a nice, long summer break, we are back in the saddle again! This was an enjoyable summer for me--mainly relaxation, getting some stuff done around the house, and occasional time spent in The Office. This truly was my guilty pleasure of the summer...but summer is winding down, and inservice has started back up, so The Office will have to wait. Due to some renovations happening at the middle school, we weren't able to get into our rooms until last Friday (and I was headed up to Door County for my anniversary, so I didn't get in anyway). In the past, I would have been chomping at the bit to get back in my room as soon as August rolled around. However, I've been getting into the mindset of taking things as they come and trying not to stress about things I can't control. So, not being able to get into my classroom was just the way it was and I made peace with that...and it gave me more time to spend in The Office. Monday rolled around, I finished up som...